Hey all! I recently put together a video to mark Cohen's 5th birthday. (Her birthday was actually back in August... I'm not great at deadlines!) She's an awesome trick dog with lots of enthusiasm for learning and performing.

I'm not sure this link will work, but give it a try. It may play below, or it may redirect you to youtube. Enjoy!

It's difficult to tell from one photo, but in my estimation he's a mix. What he's mixed with, precisely, is difficult to tell. Perhaps a short coated border collie? Short coats are normally dominant to long. Does he ever exhibit crouched down stalking behaviour?

I was going to say this when you first posted this thread but digressed. Now with your new muzzle thread, I figured I'd follow through.

I don't think you're doing the right thing in exposing your DA dog to other dogs -- especially dogs owned by people you don't know in uncontrolled environments. I think the advice of "socializing" him (which you're not really doing -- you're trying to desensitize more than anything I think) is either poor or being misconstrued. I think that you're setting your dog and yourself up for failure. My suspicions were confirmed when you described his reaction at the dog park in your muzzle thread.

If I were in your situation (I do own two somewhat reactive dogs) I would put in loads of work in improving your dog's focus around distractions and self control. Getting him to a point where he can meet dogs would be way, way, way down my list of priorities. I think that people place an undue amount of importance on your dog being friendly/accepting of strange dogs. It's okay if your dog doesn't like other dogs. Your goal should be for him to learn to trust you, accept their presence while focusing on you when around them. Then you return the favour and remove yourself and him from the uncomfortable situation. Some dogs are not dog park dogs and that's okay.

I think you're doing your dog a disservice by essentially throwing him into the deep end to see if he'll sink or swim. Did your behaviourist give you other tasks to work on? It's Your Choice? Look At That? Assumed Attention? Confidence building games?